Unsafe at Any Altitude
Friday, July 10, 2026
Vol. 15, No. 2321
| QATAR ONE: The new 747 donated to President Trump by Qatar for use as Air Force One lacks anti-aircraft countermeasures, The NY Times reports. The Secret Service forced Trump to leave Turkey this week on one of the old planes. Trump has been rushing to get the luxurious Qatar plane into service while two new Air Force Ones have been delayed for years. Without answering whether the Qatar plane has countermeasure capability, “The new Air Force One is a state-of-the-art aircraft that has been fitted with high-level security protocols that ensure the safety of the president and his staff,” Steven Cheung, the communications director, said in a statement. THE WAR ROOM: Ukraine’s military says they have hit and set fire to at least 25 ships in the Sea of Azov, the body of water bordered by Ukraine and Russia. The Ukrainians are trying to cut off supply routes to Russian-annexed Crimea, a prime route for military supplies feeding the invasion of western Ukraine. The Ukrainians have also targeted Russian oil refineries, causing fuel shortages across the country. President Trump this week said he would license Ukraine to make its own Patriot defense missiles, a development that could take a long time to bear actual missiles. Russian losses have been horrific. An anonymous general told a Russian journalist that the military would have to recruit 55,000 to 60,000 soldiers a month to make up for the casualties. The Institute for the Study of War says that the anonymous general told the reporter “that the Kremlin is inflating Russian battlefield successes to generate a false perception of Russian sweeping advances while maintaining its commitment to a war of attrition that Russia cannot win in a continued attempt to convince Ukraine and the West to capitulate to Russia’s demands.” LA MIGRA: A Mexican immigrant shot dead in what Immigration and Customs Enforcement claimed was a targeted operation in Houston was not the target for detainment, CNN reports. ICE claimed that Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, who had lived in the US more than 30 years without incident, tried to evade officers before targeting them with his car. ICE said they had been looking for two men in a white van. On official said, “On July 7, officers were almost at the target’s address when they observed a white van with an individual who resembled the target. Officers then initiated the vehicle stop.” The family of the 51-year old Araujo said he would have stopped if he had known the unmarked vehicle approaching him carried federal agents. They said he was in the process of obtaining legal residence. INFINITE SCROLL: — In his continuing campaign to repair, renovate, and beautify the White House, President Trump has ordered restoration of the massive columns at the front of the building. The President has become upset by the dings in the columns as he greets rich, powerful, and foreign visitors. Interior Secretary Dog Burghum said, “We’re restoring the plaster, and not just at the door level — all the way up to the crowns of those towers.” Given that Trump is involved, you have to wonder whether that’s all they’re doing. While the work goes on, the columns have been covered with drapes portraying the image of the actual columns. — The US Department of Education is rolling out a new rule that says if an undergraduate program’s graduates don’t earn more than workers who never went to college, that program could be cut off from federal student loans. The same rule would be applied to alumni of graduate programs who earn less than someone with only a bachelor’s degree. “If a program cannot show that it leaves its graduates financially better off than if they had never enrolled, it should not be underwritten by federal taxpayers,” Under Secretary of Education Nicholas Kent said in a statement. The rule assumes that going to college is about making money and that a trained teacher needs to make more than a union carpenter. — President Trump on social media celebrated the re-naming of the Palm Beach airport for himself. “A very big day in Palm Beach, Florida, where it was my Great Honor to have the Palm Beach International Airport be renamed, by a spectacular vote, The President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” he wrote. He said, “The Area is HOT, the Location is GREAT, and the Renovation will be SPECTACULAR.” And, of course, he claimed, “This will soon be one of the Greatest and Most Spectacular Airports anywhere in the World!” REGRETS: The young man accused of killing right wing organizer Charlie Kirk confessed to his former romantic partner and roommate Lance Twiggs that he had committed the murder. According to the recording of an interview, Twiggs said, “He started crying a little bit,” Mr. Twiggs said. “And said he wishes he hadn’t done it.” THE SPIN RACK: Eight men were indicted in what prosecutors say was a planned drone and sniper attack on the UFC cage fight event staged at the White House on June 14th. Prosecutors say the men had fringe conspiracy theories and hoped to destabilize the government. — German carmaker Volkswagen announced that it will cut the number of its models by as much as half to compete with cheaper Chinese-made cars. German press reports say the company is preparing to lay off 100,000 workers by the end of the decade and close four factories in Europe. — At least 11 people died in a wildfire in the Andalusia region of southern Spain. — Former Olympic canoeist David Hearn pleaded not guilty yesterday to vandalizing the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool. Hearn said he merely touched a piece of peeling bottom coating. “Every American should be alarmed about this prosecution,” defense attorney Norm Eisen said after the hearing. BELOW THE FOLD: Hundreds of venomous snakes including cobras escaped a breeding farm during flooding in a village in Hengzhou, China. Creepy video shows swimming snakes. |
Friday, July 10, 2026
Page Two
Page Two: America at 250
Friday, July 10, 2026
PAGE TWO: FIRE ANDY ROONEY
Wednesday, June 10, 2026
Page Two: 1984 in 2025
Monday, April 28, 2025
Take Back the Flag
Monday, January 13, 2025
Subscribe and Read
Thursday, October 31, 2024
The Most Corrupt Justice
Monday, October 2, 2023
Democracy and Video in the Dark
Sunday, February 26, 2023
Page Two: Do the Right Thing
Tuesday, February 1, 2022
It's Been Said
"Christians, get out and vote, just this time. You won't have to do it anymore. Four more years, you know what, it will be fixed, it will be fine, you won't have to vote anymore, my beautiful Christians. I love you Christians. I'm a Christian. I love you, get out, you gotta get out and vote. In four years, you don't have to vote again, we'll have it fixed so good you're not going to have to vote."
- Donald Trump courting the vote of the Christian right
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